Swiss Skydiver
Swiss Skydiver
Swiss Skydiver is a retired American Thoroughbred racehorse born on March 10, 2017. She became famous for winning the 2020 Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown, becoming only the sixth filly to win that race. She also won several other major races in 2020 and added a stakes win in 2021.
Background
She was bred in Kentucky by WinStar Farm, owned by Peter J. Callahan, and trained by Kenneth G. McPeek. She is by the stallion Daredevil, out of the mare Expo Gold. Swiss Skydiver was bought for $35,000 as a Keeneland yearling in 2018. The owner named her after his granddaughter’s parachuting video over the Swiss Alps.
Racing career highlights
Swiss Skydiver started racing in 2019, winning her debut at Churchill Downs and finishing second in her next race. In 2020 she won the Gulfstream Oaks, Fantasy Stakes, and Santa Anita Oaks, then the Alabama Stakes. She raced against males in the Blue Grass Stakes, finishing second, and ran in the Kentucky Oaks, finishing third. Her biggest moment came in the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico, where she beat Authentic by a neck; her time of 1:53.28 was the second-fastest in Preakness history. She finished the year as a top three-year-old filly and earned American Champion Three-Year-Old Filly honors for 2020. After strong performances, she competed in the Breeders’ Cup, running in the Distaff, but stumbled at the start and finished seventh.
Becoming a four-year-old, she won the Beholder Mile at Santa Anita in January 2021. She later raced at Oaklawn Park in the Apple Blossom Handicap and at Saratoga in the Whitney Stakes, where she did not win. In November 2021 she was sold for $4.7 million to Katsumi Yoshida’s Northern Farm and was moved to the United Kingdom to be bred with the stallion Kingman.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 01:52 (CET).